The Storm Gathering: The Penn Family and the American Revolution (Keystone Books)

A popular history of Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary period from the vantage point of the heirs of William Penn. Most Pennsylvanians are familiar with the story of William Penn and the founding of Pennsylvania in 1681 as a haven for religious dissenters. But few may know what became of Penn's enterprise (the 'proprietorship') in the years after his death in 1718. And fewer still may realize that Penn's descendants played an important, and increasingly unpopular, role in the coming of the American Revolution to Pennsylvania. The Storm Gathering, based on Penn family correspondence and other contemporary records, tells this fascinating story, focusing primarily on Thomas and John Penn, two of the last members of the Penn family to figure significantly in Pennsylvania's affairs before the colonies declared independence in 1776. John Penn (1729-95), the last governor of proprietary Pennsylvania, did not live in quiet times. He arrived in the colony in 1763 to confront the Paxson Boys and found nearly continuous conflict in the west. He opposed Benjamin Franklin and the movement for royal government. Revolutionary agitation left him a helpless bystander and cost the Penn Family 24 million acres of land. Penn as a take-charge guy; he relied on instructions from his uncle Thomas, the Chief Proprietor in London. This fine study by freelance writer Treese traces the coming of the Revolution in Pennsylvania, the fruitless efforts of the Penns to do justice to Indians, and the final failure of America's most successful 'feudal' experiment. Recommended for scholars, historians, and Pennsylvanians.